877 Wisconsin residents enrolled in Obamacare, HHS says

Nov. 14, 2013

In this Nov. 6, 2013, file photo, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on the difficulties plaguing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Putting a statistic on disappointment, the Obama administration revealed Wednesday, Nov. 13, that fewer than 27,000 people signed up for private health insurance last month in the 36 states relying on a problem-filled federal website. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) / AP

Barrett pushes Medicaid expansion

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett joined two other Democratic mayors Wednesday pushing their states to expand Medicaid. The mayors spoke with reporters Wednesday on a call arranged by the White House. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker turned down additional Medicaid money offered by the federal government, which promised 100 percent funding for three years, but eventually falling to 90 percent. Walker chose instead to move about 77,000 people from BadgerCare, the state Medicaid program, to the federal Marketplace, opening up BadgerCare to tens of thousands on a waiting list. The mostly failed start of the federal Marketplace imperils people moving from BadgerCare because they need to purchase new insurance by Dec. 15 to ensure continued coverage on Jan. 1. Walker administration officials said they are watching the situation. Barrett said Walker is waging an “ideological battle” against the new health care reform law. “What I have asked the governor to do is push back his decision to move people from BadgerCare ... and have that coincide with the (federal) exchange deadline of March 31,” Barrett said. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter says failure to expand Medicaid in Pennsylvania will cause poor people to get sick and miss work, hurting the economy. And Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed says refusing the expansion funds could cost local public hospitals $100 million in subsidies. — Richard Ryman/Gannett Wisconsin Media and The Associated Press

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WASHINGTON — Putting a statistic on disappointment, the Obama administration revealed Wednesday that fewer than 27,000 people signed up for private health insurance last month in the 36 states relying on a problem-filled federal website.

States running their own enrollment systems did better between Oct. 1 and Nov. 2, signing up more than 79,000, for a total enrollment of over 106,000.

Still, that was barely one-fifth of the nearly 500,000 people administration officials had projected would sign up the first month of Obama’s signature program, a numerical rebuke to the administration’s ability to deliver on its promise. The 106,185 people who made it all the way through to selecting a plan represent just 1.5 percent of the 7 million people the administration hopes to enroll by next year.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said things will get better, and quickly. “The website is very much operational and very much open for business. Hundreds of thousands of people are getting through,” she said.

According to HHS, 877 Wisconsin residents, who must use the federal website, successfully selected a health insurance plan as of Nov. 2. All told, 34,678 individuals were included in 19,098 applications and 8,911 of them are eligible for tax credit subsidies. According to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press, the Obama administration had projected that 5,530 people from Wisconsin would sign up for plans through Oct. 31.

Wisconsin is relying on the federal website because Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who opposes President Barack Obama’s signature health care program, chose not to create a state-run marketplace.

The federal Healthcare.gov website kicked off enrollment on Oct. 1 and immediately ran into trouble, with most potential enrollees unable to complete applications. The administration has staked its credibility on turning the website around by the end of this month. From the president on down, officials have said that HealthCare.gov will be running smoothly for the vast majority of users by Nov. 30.

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The administration said an additional 1 million or so applicants have been found eligible for government-subsidized private coverage in new state-level insurance markets, and about half are within sight of having their plans lined up for the start of next year. An additional 396,000 have been found eligible for Medicaid, the safety-net program that is shaping up as the health care law’s early success story.

HHS officials did not release demographic information about those who’ve enrolled in plans. It is important to participating insurance companies that younger, healthy people sign up for coverage to pay for the expected influx of less healthy people who are sure to enroll.

Chiquita Brooks-Lasure, deputy center and policy director, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, said the administration focused on enrollment data first. There is no schedule for releasing demographic data, she said.

“As we are able to do that on a national basis, we will do that as well,” she said.

The numbers landed amid a political storm on Capitol Hill. Democrats who had hoped to run for re-election next year on the success of the health care law are increasingly worried.

Some outside experts are concerned. “People are starting to get nervous because there is not enough indication from the government that things are on track,” said Caroline Pearson, who runs the health reform practice at Avalere Health, a market analysis firm. “You wonder if there are still underlying programming problems that are causing the system to shut down when volume is high.”

Administration officials have not specified what “running smoothly” means, or what would constitute the “vast majority” of users.

On daily media calls, Health and Human Services department officials have described a situation where problems get fixed and then new issues crop up as consumers are able to venture further into the website. It’s a bit like traffic heading back to a city late on a summer Sunday: You get past one jam, and odds are you run into another.

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There was a hopeful sign Tuesday when Julie Bataille, HHS communications director for the rollout, said 275,000 people who got hung up in the early days are being invited back to try to complete their applications. The administration is sending the email invitations in batches, so as not to risk any disruptions. White House chief technology officer Todd Park told Congress on Wednesday that system response times are much faster, and error rates have plunged.

But other signals have raised questions. In a blog post on Saturday, Bataille quoted chief White House troubleshooter Jeff Zients as saying improvements would continue in “December, January, February — just like you do with any website.”

Asked whether the Nov. 30 target was still achievable, Bataille said Tuesday, “I want to be clear that our plan remains the same. We are on a path to make improvements week by week so that by the end of November, the site will be working for the vast majority of users.”

It’s unlikely that Congress will let the effort keep floundering much beyond Nov. 1. Millions of lawmakers’ constituents are losing current individual policies that don’t meet the law’s requirements. To guarantee they don’t experience a break in coverage they would have to select new plans by Dec. 15. That’s a major political problem for Democrats who so far have stood by the president.